The invention relates to a cyclonic fluid separator.
Gas mixtures may be separated by expanding and thereby cooling the mixture such that condensable components condense and then separating the gaseous components from the condensed liquid components in a cyclonic separator.
International patent application WO03029739 discloses a cyclonic separator comprising a throat section in which the fluid may be accelerated to a transonic or supersonic velocity and swirl imparting means for inducing the fluid to swirl through an annular space between the housing and a central body, which is arranged substantially co-axially relative to a central axis of the housing.
The fluid mixture that flows at high velocity through the annular space between the inner surface of the housing and the outer surface of the central body may exert vibrating forces on the housing and the central body.
It is also desired to streamline the central body, which may involve configuring the central body such that is has a droplet shaped front section and an elongate slender tail section. This tail section may be short or long and may be supported or unsupported by the housing. Vibrations of the central body may have a detrimental effect on the fluid flux and separation performance of the device and may damage and even cause failure of the central body.
It is an object of the present invention to solve the problem of vibration of the central body of a cyclonic fluid separator.